NEW YORK - What would be the first large-scale natural gas export facility in the U.S., in Cameron Parish, La., has gotten the OK to begin construction, signifying the rapid shift under way for a country suddenly rich in the natural resource.

It is also represents a banner year and turnaround for the company building the facility, Houston's Cheniere Energy Inc., which in December was placed on Standard & Poor's Creditwatch due to the risk of default. The rating since has been raised.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission cleared the construction of the Sabine Pass LNG terminal in Cameron Parish, La. The facility, which will chill natural gas into a liquid that can be shipped on tankers, will allow U.S. producers to export natural gas overseas for potentially huge profits. An existing LNG import facility at the site will be converted, also to handle exports.

Sempra, based in San Diego, said Tuesday that its Cameron LNG unit already has permission from the Energy Department to export up to 12 million tons a year of LNG - or 1.7 billion cubic feet per day - to countries with which the United States has a free trade agreement. Some operations could be online in 2015 or 2016.

U.S. energy companies will compete with major LNG exporters like Qatar, which can charge customers in Asia much higher prices compared with prices in the U.S. That is largely because of the massive glut of supply in the United States, where drillers have freed enormous amounts of natural gas using new technology.

So much natural gas has been captured that there are concerns the country is reaching capacity storage and prices have been driven to 10-year lows. Prices fell below $2 per 1,000 cubic feet Tuesday.